3 ms·
I genuinely find it strange that the lab leak hypothesis - and I don't have a horse in this race and I doubt this matter is going to be resolved in my lifetime
by iwanttocomment 1y ago
I genuinely find it strange that the lab leak hypothesis - and I don't have a horse in this race and I doubt this matter is going to be resolved in my lifetime - is somehow considered more racist than the wet market hypothesis.
"Wuhan has an advanced virology laboratory engaged in gain-of-function research and some idiot screwed everything up for all of us" is somehow more racist than "there's a wet market down the street where they buy raccoon dogs to eat"? The latter just seems far more condescending to me.
- firesteelrain 1y agoBecause the framing of a wet market condition fits within Western tropes about strange food customs in other cultures. So it got a pass Saying “someone in a lab made a professional mistake” is arguably less judgmental about a whole society than saying “people got sick because they eat wild animals in unsanitary places.” The former is a workplace accident
- tim333 1y agoThere was quite a lot of organised cover up stuff done by people on the US funding side. I guess it's easier to call critics racist than deal with questions of why the US was funding gain of function research.